Everyone went still.
Except, of course, Nikolett, whose head snapped up. “Fleet Admiral, this doesn’t?—”
“Nope.”
She stalked over, cane in one hand. He was pretty sure she was supposed to use the cane to walk, not hold it like it was a stick she was going to whack him with.
“‘Nope?’” she parroted.
“Nope to me being the fleet admiral right now. It’s not the fleet admiral objecting to this bullshit plan.”
Around the room, people looked either confused, surprised, or in a few cases, knowing. Nikolett stopped beside his chair, irritation radiating off her. “Which of your divine aspects is objecting?”
“Your…” What should he call her? What should he call himself? Lover was too intimate, spouse not accurate though it was aspirational.
“Your future husband,” he finally said. “I’m objecting as your fiancé.”
Around the room, eyes widened and several people pulled their phones from their pockets. Gossipy fucks.
Nikolett’s gaze softened, but her tone remained firm. “My fiancé has no right to object to this plan. It’s my choice.”
“In that case, I’m objecting to how stupid you’re being.”
“Did you just call me stupid?”
“I said what you’re doing is stupid.”
“I’m helping find and hopefully eliminate a very real threat.” She smiled coldly. “What areyoudoing?”
God, he loved this. Even as he wanted to shake her and anxiety churned in his gut, he enjoyed the battle.
“I’m here to be the voice of reason. And ifI’mthe voice of reason, your plan is shit.”
“He has a point there,” Regina said.
“I won’t be walking alone. Maxim and Iacob will be with me—visibly with me, as bodyguards. If the Spaniard is watching, it would be more suspicious if I was out on my own.”
“I know they’re good atdoingthe kidnapping, but can theypreventa kidnapping? Stop you from getting snatched off the street?”
Before anyone could answer, he pointed a finger gun at each man. “Pop. Pop. Head shots, they’re dead. And now you’re in an unmarked panel van.”
“We’ll have guards and cameras watching every possible sniper position, and people on the ground monitoring traffic.” Grigoris was as unruffled as ever. “As you saw when you arrived, we have an effective plan in place should we identify a potential threat.”
“We’ll be monitoring her location and are prepared to shut down roads if needed. Even if she were to be pulled into a car, that car couldn’t go anywhere. We would get to the admiral before they could get even a kilometer away,” Raphael added.
“A lot can happen in a kilometer.” Eric looked at Nikolett.
Her expression softened further. She knew what he feared when it came to her and everything about this plan was playing into his fear. She sank into the empty chair beside him.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly, “that this is making you worry.”
“Worry? I’m fucking terrified.” He knew everyone else could hear him—and that they were listening raptly—but he didn’t care. “It would be poetic for us to get together after all these years only for you to be murdered a day later.”
“Oh, Eric…” Nikolett grabbed his hand, holding it tight.
Eric looked at Grigoris. “I’ll walk with her.”
He shook his head. “You’re an unknown variable. We don’t know how your presence would be perceived by the Spaniard.”
